2017 Laboratories of LAUSANNE University
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GEODE
UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE NEW LABORATORIES BUILDING
We want our building to be the most beautiful laboratories building in the world, and the most efficient. A building that will last over time and in the memory of men.
A building FUNCTIONALLY flawless. Like a swiss watch. All the requirements of the complex brief have been meticulously studied to give an accurate answer. The brief is divided into four groups, which translate into the four towers proposed, one of them to be built as a future extension. The four towers, respond with their growing dimensions to the requirements of the brief. They sit over a shared basement which contains the main public spaces and circulations.
A building CONSTRUCTIVELY solved with precision. Like a Mercedes Benz. With constructive details thoroughly studied that respond to the demand of a sustainable architecture. With a clear structure system and a double façade of glass, providing not only the appropriate light and ventilation, but also working as a mure trombe to meet the sustainability goal.
A building that wants to be BEAUTIFUL. A building that, like a geode, presents a concrete back in each of its four towers, in continuity with the concrete base, and a double skin façade made in glass in its other sides, with a wide air chamber that we have already tested in previous buildings with great result. The concrete backs hold the vertical nuclei: stairs, elevators and toilets.
The concrete base holds the main and most public circulations. Its rooftop takes shape of a platform open to the sky and to the view of the beautiful surrounding landscape, with the Leman Lake and the mountains in the far horizon. The platform is thought as a space to scatter around in the days of sunny weather. Besides, a series of courtyards will enable the proper illumination and ventilation of the most inside spaces of this concrete base. A staircase will connect the big indoor common space with the outside platform, providing, due to its generous dimensions and its central position, an open amphitheater.
We have tried to accomplish the conditions that VITRUVIO demanded to good architecture: UTILITAS, FIRMITAS and VENUSTAS.
